Teacher’s Resource: A Cat in Paris 2nd Level: transition P7/S1 and S1-S3 Curriculum for Excellence links: Modern Languages French, English with activities linking to Expressive Arts, and Health & Wellbeing Created by Chloé Millet and Marie-Christine Thiébaut,Institut Français d´Écosse Discovery Film Festival: Sat 22 October - Sun 6 November 2011 discoveryfi lmfestival.org.uk © Dundee Contemporary Arts 2011 With support from DCA Cinema and DCA Community & Education Team Introduction Discovery Learning Resources give you exciting classroom activities to enhance Curriculum for Excellence delivery. This resource provides you with a film synopsis, things to help prepare your class for seeing the film, follow up activities and useful references. We hope that you and your pupils have fun and enjoy learning with this resource. They are created by classroom teachers and education professionals. Each resources aims to: • support and extend working with film in the classroom • help prepare teachers for a class visit to a Discovery Film Festival film and to extend the impact of that visit • develop confidence in Moving Image Education approaches and working with 21st Century Literacy/moving image texts Each resource is free and available to download from discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk/resources or via the Discovery Film Festival area on GLOW, which can be found within the Dundee 21st Century Literacy Group. Teacher’s note - French vocabulary and guide to activities: This resource is written to support mainly Modern Languages: French and English at Level 2. It has been created with English and French sections and accompanying vocabulary lists to help pupils grow their range of words. I work on my own and with others to understand text using appropriate resources, demonstrating my understanding by matching written words to pictures and by reconstructing the text in a logical sequence, for example. MLAN 2-08a Having explored the elements which writers use in different genres, I can use what I learn to create stories, poems and plays with an interesting and appropriate structure, interesting characters and/or settings which come to life. ENG 2-31a I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader. ENG 2-27 a The level of difficulty for each activity is indicated by the following symbols; the more challenging has the symbol or and these start each section, followed by the easiest activity and vocabulary. We hope you enjoy them. Chloé Millet and Marie-Christine Thiébaut Institut Français d´Écosse 01 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Synopsis A Cat in Paris (Une vie de chat) Directors: Jean-Loup Felicioli et Alain Gagnol France 2010 / 1h10m Jeanne works as a police officer in Paris. Since her husband was killed by the gangster Victor Costa, her daughter Zoé has been traumatized and doesn´t speak anymore. Thankfully, Dino the cat is there to comfort her. But he seems to be leading an exciting double life… By day, he lives with Zoé, by night, he works with Nico, a burglar with a big heart. One day, Dino brings Zoé a very valuable bracelet. Lucas, Jeanne’s second-in-command, no- tices this bracelet is part of a jewellery collection that has been stolen. One night, Zoé decides to follow Dino. On the way, she overhears some gangsters and discovers that her nanny is part of the gangsters’ team. They try to capture the little girl in a thrilling chase around Paris’ rooftops… “A Cat in Paris is a completely refreshing and unique throwback to the traditional form - every cell of the film has been hand-painted, and its highly stylized, colour-saturated design looks absolutely gorgeous on the big screen.” Key Themes Adventure - Friendship - Detectives and robbers - Chase - Family - Mourning - Love 02 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Before the film / Avant le film Activity 1. Le commissaire de police mène l´enquête / Your detective mission Your mission is to find out which one of these characters has stolen a diamond bracelet in the museum last night. I work on my own and with others to understand text using appropriate resources, demonstrating my understanding by matching written words to pictures and by reconstructing the text in a logical sequence, for example. MLAN 2-08a Having explored the elements which writers use in different genres, I can use what I learn to create stories, poems and plays with an interesting and appropriate structure, interesting characters and/or settings which come to life. ENG 2-31a I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader. ENG 2-27 a Show the following characters on the smartboard or hand out as hard copies: 03 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk a. Look at the pictures of the characters. Which one do you think is the thief? Why? Write her/his name on a sheet of paper and the reason why you think she or he might be the thief. b. Working in pairs – interviewing a witness One of you is a police officer. You have to choose one of the attributes of a French police officer and wear it throughout the game. L´insigne de la police Le brassard de la police La casquette de la police The other player is the only eye witness who saw what the thief looks like. The police officer can ask 5 questions in order to find out who the witness saw last night. He/she must fill in the ‘profile sheet/ fiche d’identite du voleur’ (below) of the character he suspects to be the thief. Vocabulary : Un de ces personnages a volé des bijoux dans un musée. Tu as vu le voleur. Le commissaire de police te pose 5 questions et doit deviner qui est le voleur. Complète avec l´aide du témoin la fiche d’identité du voleur. Fiche d´identité du voleur Le sexe q un homme q une femme L´âge environ …… ans Le physique Les cheveux Signes particuliers Le suspect, c´est 04 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Vocabulary: Here is a little help Le physique Les cheveux Les vêtements Les couleurs Grand(e) Blond/blonde Un tee-shirt Gris/grise Petit Roux /rousse Un pantalon Rose Gros (grosse) Brun / brune Une jupe Jaune Mince Long = court Un costume Violet / violette frisé Une veste Noir / noire chauve Un pull Orange Une queue de cheval Une chemise Vert / verte Un chignon Un sac Bleu/bleue Une cravate Blanc / blanche Marron à rayures Etre ….. Etre …. Avoir …. Avoir …. Porter …. c. Did you (as the police officer) think of the same suspect? If not, describe in 5 sentences who you suspected to have stolen the jewels last night without saying his/her name. Your team must guess who have in mind. In French: Tu es le commissaire de police et tu décris en 5 phrases « ton » suspect numéro 1. Ton équipe doit deviner qui tu suspectes d´avoir volé les bijoux. 05 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Activity 2. Qui suis-je? / Who am I? Look at the pictures of the characters below. Each character has a corresponding letter. a b c d e f g h i • Read the following sentences from each of the characters. • Write down in the empty column the letter matching the character and their description. • Finally, write down the names of the characters underneath each picture. Salut, je m´appelle Dino. Le jour, je joue avec Zoé. La nuit, j´accompagne Nico sur les toits. Je suis petit et gros. Je suis le gangster que la police recherche : j´ai tué le papa de Zoé. Je veux absolument avoir le « colosse de Nairobi », une statue africaine de très grande valeur. Moi, c´est Zoé. J´ai 8 ans. J´ai un chat noir. Il s´appelle Dino. Ma maman travaille à la police. Mon papa est mort. Il a été tué par Victor Costa et sa bande de gangsters. Je m´appelle Nico. La nuit, je monte sur les toits des maisons. Je passe par les fenêtres, j´entre dans les maisons et je prends l´argent et les bijoux. Nous, on fait partie de la bande de gangsters. On a chacun un surnom : M. Grenouille, M. Patate, M. Bébé, M. Hulot. On aide Costa à kidnapper Zoé. Je suis Jeanne. J´ai une petite fille, Zoé. Je suis commissaire de police. Mon mari, policier lui aussi, a été tué par l´ennemi public numéro 1 : Victor Costa. Avec mon col- lègue Lucas, on veut arrêter Costa et sa bande. de gangsters. Je m´appelle Claudine. Je suis grande et brune. Je suis élégante. J´aime le parfum. Je suis la nounou de Zoé, mais je travaille aussi pour Victor Costa. Et moi, c´est Rufus. Je déteste les chats… et les voleurs ! Je m’appelle Lucas et je suis policier. Je travaille avec Jeanne et en ce moment, j’enquête sur le casse de la rue Mouffetard et de mystérieuses empreintes de pattes de chat. 06 / discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk Activity 3. Une vie de chat / A Cat’s Life Literally “a cat’s life” but translated as “A Cat in Paris”, is the title of the film you will see next with your class. In small groups, describe what cats are usually doing day and night. Make up a spider diagram with the word “UN CHAT” in the middle. Think of all the words and phrases that might be associated with this word. Activity 4. Write a short story using some of the following characters Zoé, Dino, Claudine, Costa, Nico, Rufus, Jeanne – work only from the pictures of each character. Choose who is the main character of your story, then decide on a location (where) and then write your story (action).